Activation Manual

General Information
Alliance plugins include a new proprietary licensing system which is completely
software based. Thus, no hardware USB dongle is required to run any of our plugins.
No additional software or drivers are needed, either. verything is handled from
within the plugin. All of your licenses are stored in a single file that resides on your
computer. This file must be updated whenever you buy or demo a new Alliance
plugin and install it on your computer. !e support either online or offline activation.
!e highly recommend using online activation if possible as it is the most user"
friendly method. By default any plugin can be activated on up to three #$% different
computers or USB flash"drives per license.
License Types
&ur plugins support Full Licenses, Trial Licenses and Lease Licenses.
A Full License unloc's your plugin for an unlimited amount of time. (ou will obtain a
full license whenever you purchase a new Alliance plugin.
A Trial License will let you try a plugin for )* days. Trial licenses are free of charge.
There are no limitations to the demo versions of the plugins. (ou can save settings
and presets, automate the plugins in your +A! and render mi,es. A trial license can
be activated on three devices as well, but it will only be valid for )* days after the
first activation.
Lease Licenses are valid for a period of $- days. They can be renewed after e,"
piration #see below% by paying your ne,t installment. This allows you to perform an
installment purchase of a plugin.
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Installation
+ownload the installer for the plugin you want to install from our website.s
download section at www.plugin"alliance.com/downloads. 0t doesn.t matter if you
are going to try out a demo or if you are going to install a plugin for which you have
bought a full license. The installer is the same. !e have separate installers for
!indows, 1ac &S and 2NU Systems.
3un the plugin installer by double"clic'ing the 4"file contained in the installer
archive if you.re a !indows user, or double"clic' the 567"file if you.re on a 1A8,
respectively. This will start the installer. 8onfirm the legal information and select
which plugin formats you want to install #for e,ample 2ST, AA4, 3TAS and AU%. The
format you need depends on the audio host program you are using and which plugin
format is required for your host. By default all formats are selected. !e recommend
you install A99 versions, especially if you aren.t sure about the format you need.
Activation Process
&nce the installation procedure has finished simply start your host software.
Unauthori:ed plugins will be grayed out and disabled. 0n 5ro Tools unactivated
plugins will bring the activation dialog shown below #;ig. )% during the plugin scan at
startup. Simply clic' on the plugin window to bring up the activation dialog in all
other +A!s.
Fig. 1: Activation Dialog
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(ou can choose if you want to use the online or the offline activation procedure by
clic'ing the I'm online or I'm offline buttons. !e highly recommend using the online
option since it.s most easy and automated.
Since we.re using a single file to manage all your licenses, there is no need to
reactivate the same plugin in different +A!"formats. This means that if you activate
a plugin using e.g. 5ro Tools you can use it with 9ogic as well, as long as you are on
the same computer or USB flash"drive.
Set the chec'bo, Activate all my plugins to activate all your licenses in one go. This
way the activation procedure doesn.t have to be performed for all installed plugins.
Online Activation
0f you have chosen I'm online the online activation dialog will appear #;ig. <%. (ou will
be prompted for your registered email address and your password. The process is
identical to your login at www.plugin"alliance.com/myplugins.
(ou must create an account on our website if you haven.t done so. &pening an
account at plugin"alliance.com is free. (ou need an e,isting account to activate both,
full licenses and demos.
Fig. 2: Online Activation
As soon as you clic' Activate, the plugin will contact our server and download a new
license file to your computer or USB flash"drive.
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0n case there is a valid full license in your account the plugin will be activated forever
for the actual computer, otherwise a )*"day trial version will be activated and
started.
ave !ass"or#
0t.s possible to save your password by selecting the ave pass"or# chec'bo, in the
online activation dialog. Saving your password allows you to activate new plugins in
the future without having to re"enter your login data for every plugin you activate.
!hen enabling this feature, passwords are stored on your system.s hard dis' using a
secure encrypting scheme.
Offline Activation
0f your music computer is not connected to the internet the plugin activation and the
transfer of your license file must be done manually via an additional computer that
has internet connection.
0n this case choose I'm offline in the Activation window. The offline activation dialog
#;ig. $% will pop up.
Fig. 3: Offline Activation
0n general you will need to e,change data bac' and forth between your offline music
computer and your online internet computer twice to activate a plugin on an offline
machine. Use e.g. a USB flash drive to do so.
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tep 1: 1a'e sure you have created a trial license in your 5lugin Alliance account or
you have purchased a full license in our store. &f course, this can only be done on a
computer with internet access as well. To create a trial license in your 5lugin Alliance
account please see details below.
tep 2: Submit your 1achine 0+ to your account. The 1achine 0+ is the number
displayed in blue in the activation window #;ig. $%. 0t is used to identify your music
computer in our system.
8hoose ave to file and store the te,t"file called =machine>id.t,t? on a removable
drive #e.g. USB flash"drive% connected to your offline music computer. Now connect
the USB drive to your computer and log into your account on your internet computer.
Upload the created te,t"file from your USB"Stic' using the Activate From File option
under 2iew 3egistered +evices / +eactivate +evices. +ownload your new license file
to your USB stic' by clic'ing Do"nloa# License File.
tep 3: 8onnect your USB stic' to your music computer. 0n the plugin activation
window please clic' Open license and choose the license file named =pa.license?
which is now located on your USB stic'. ;inally, clic' Activate and your plugin is
wor'ing now.
Offline License Management
very offline music computer has to be registered in your 5lugin Alliance account
only once #as described in Step < above%.
To start a new offline demo use the %reate Demo & Free License option and choose
the product you would li'e to test. An overview of your registered devices can be
found under 'ie" (egistere# Devices in your account.
USB Activation
Alliance plugins give you the ability to transfer your licenses to an ordinary USB flash"
drive, which then can be used to run your plugins on other computers without the
need for these computers to be activated then. This is especially useful for travelling
;&@ engineers or engineers who have to wor' in different studios a lot. !e highly
recommend to activate USB flash"drives via an online computer.
(ou can store the plugins or the plugin installers together on one USB flash"drive.
This enables you to copy the plugins into the plugin folder or to use the installer on a
computer system you intend to use temporarily #li'e a 2NU console on a festival,
for e,ample% from a single USB flash"drive. !hen you.ve finished mi,ing Aust delete
the plugin files and ta'e your USB flash"drive with you and youBre done. No need to
deactivate the computer / console afterwards.
)
tep 1: 0n order to activate your plugin on a flash"drive ma'e sure that this drive is
properly connected to your computer and currently mounted in your file"system.
&pen the plugin#s% you want to activate on your USB flash"drive in your +A! of
choice. Use an online computer on which the plugin is installed.
tep 2: Bring up the activation dialog #;ig. )% by clic'ing on the little 'ey"icon in the
plugin.s toolbar #;ig. *%. There will be a pull"down menu that contains a list of devices
the plugin can be activated on. (our flash"drive will be listed in case it is supported by
our licensing system. The local machine will always be listed as first entry and is
selected by default. Select your flash"drive and clic' I'm online.
tep 3: nter your login data and clic' Activate. The plugin will contact our ac"
tivation server and download a mobile license file to your flash drive that can be
subsequently used on an arbitrary machine Aust by plugging it in.
N&TC The above procedure also applies for offline operation. 5lease refer to the
&ffline Activation section above in order to learn how USB flash"drives can be
activated offline.
There may be some very old unsupported flash"drives that won.t appear in the device
list. !e are wor'ing on an overview of supported D unsupported drives that will be
available via www.plugin"alliance.com/support soon. 0f your USB flash"drive is among
the unsupported models you have to switch to a model that is supported. +on.t
worry, the big maAority of all USB flash"drives available is able to handle the tas'.
Licenser-Toolbar
Alliance plugins have a little toolbar #;ig. *% below their user"interface giving you
access to additional functionality, which is described in the following.
Fig. $: Licenser*Tool+ar
!A Logo: 8lic'ing the 5lugin Alliance logo ta'es you to the 5lugin Alliance website
via your web browser if your computer is online.
License Type: The toolbar displays information about the type of license you.re
runningC Trial" and 9easelicenses will be displayed along with number of days until
e,piration while there simply isn.t any note for full licenses as these run unlimited.
, Icon: 0f you run a demo version of any of our plugins this icon will be visible. 8lic'ing
this icon opens up a browser that redirects you to the respective product"page in
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5lugin"Alliance store so you can easily purchase a plugin or pay your ne,t installment
without having to loo' it up on our website.
.ey Icon: 8lic'ing on the 'ey icon brings up the activation dialog allowing you to
manually change from trial status to full licenses before the end of the trial phase #in
case you have bought a license in the meantime which has not yet been activated on
the current device%. (ou can also use this feature to activate additional computers or
USB flash"drives.
/ Icon: 8lic'ing the E icon opens up the plugin manual 5+;. (ou must have a
5+; reader installed on your computer to be able to read the manual. 7et a
5+; reader for free at www.adobe.com.
!lugin Alliance LL%
!orld Trade 8enter +elaware
F-< N. !est St G Suite )-)
!ilmington, + )HI-)
United States of America
www.plugin"alliance.com
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